Tag criticizing judges

“Fuck the Court”: A Brief Lesson on American Civil Liberties for Those Who’ve Been Given Every Reason to Believe They’re a Mirage

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“I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions. […] I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways.”

—Emerson

I thought about using, “F*ck the Court,” in the title to this post to spare the sensibilities of the prudish. But that would have defeated the point.

“Fuck the court” is a sentiment untold multitudes feel. You’ll nevertheless find few returns for the phrase on Google—and no wonder: Citizens who have experience with the court know it’s pretty good at fucking with them.

So, “can” you say, “Fuck the court”? Sure. The freedom to express any opinion or conviction you have, especially a political one, is guaranteed by the First Amendment, no matter how objectionable that opinion or conviction may be to others, including representatives of our public institutions (whose kids’ college tuitions we subsidize). As long as you’re not exciting violence—namely by advocating or threatening it—you enjoy the freedom to say your piece. Expressions of disgust are not only constitutionally protected; they’re more than warranted in this case.

(Consider that anarchists advocate for the complete abolishment of government. Are they “allowed” to do that? Of course.)

Context alone matters. What you say to the world at large, in a blog like this one, for example, is protected speech. If someone doesn’t want to hear it, s/he doesn’t have to listen.

Important distinctions: If you, as a party to a proceeding, wore a t-shirt emblazoned with “Fuck the Court!” to court, the judge might (would) order you turn it inside out. Or if you were just a looker-on, the bailiff could (would) ask you to leave and only come back when/if you were “respectfully” attired. If you pronounced, “Fuck the court!” aloud in court, you could be held in contempt for causing a disruption.

Got it? Good. And fuck the court. You have every right to register your disapproval.

Copyright © 2018 RestrainingOrderAbuse.com

*If you’re wondering whether this means you can criticize the conduct of judges and attorneys (by name), the conduct of plaintiffs (by name), and how a case or cases you’ve been involved in were conducted, the answer is YES. Just qualify your opinions as such, restrict their expression to the world at large, that is, never direct them to the object of your scorn, and represent facts accurately.

You Be the Judge: On Those Who Blame for a Living, Restraining Orders, and the Golden Rule

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Restraining order laws authorize lives lived decently to be discredited by judges in minutes, judges who know little or nothing about the people they presume to size up in a glance.

Defendants, men and women from all sectors of the social spectrum, report being made to feel like sex offenders based on knee-jerk character assessments and no certain facts. Parents and spouses are exiled for “offenses” alleged to be domestic violence that besides being unconfirmed may be unworthy of the label. Families are torn to pieces by accusations that may amount to no more than “name-calling, belligerent telephone calls at work, [or] a one-finger salute” (quoting DivorceSource.com, now defunct).

Judicial partiality in the restraining order arena is coyly called “paternal” by its practitioners. What it’s called by those whose lives are permanently altered by it for the worse is careless, callous, and/or cruel. Allegations that cost people their ambitions, children, life savings, and sanity may be exaggerated, cooked, or spitefully manufactured—sometimes obviously so.

Yet rigid or even scalding denunciations from judges are commonly remarked. Social, political, and professional imperatives encourage and excuse tyrannical conduct from agents of the state who’ve been entrusted with protecting citizens’ civil rights and dignity, and these imperatives and this conduct are overdue for scrutiny, reproof, and realignment.

The superficial standards of arguably ill-conceived laws license neither judicial dereliction nor imperiousness.

Axiomatic in law is that “a judge is not the court.” This recognizes that judges are human beings, subject to foibles and flaws like everyone else, and what the law recognizes, judges must also. They, too, are imperfect parents, spouses, and people.

Here are some recent news stories that should serve as reminders that no one is above a measure of humility:

“Judge ‘Tried to Frame’ Love Rival for Drugs, Assault in Years-long Scheme” (2013)

“Judge’s Lawyer Husband Accused of Domestic Battery” (2009)

“Judge Hits Daughter: Caught on Tape” (2011)

“Alameda County Judge Charged with Elder Theft” (2013)

“Illinois Judge Charged with Possession of Heroin, Guns” (2012)

“Judge’s Daughter Wrecks Car, Kills Boyfriend in Drunk Driving Accident…and Sues the Driver That She Hit” (2008)

“D.C.’s Top Judge Charged with Wrongdoing” (2014)

“Judge Censured For Interfering In Son’s Kitten Abuse Charges” (2015)

“Judge Charged with Stealing Cocaine from Evidence of Cases He Presided Over” (2013)

“Broward Judge […] Charged with DUI” (2013)

“Randolph County Judge Charged with Breaking Court Code because of Affair” (2014)

“Judge’s Husband Sentenced for Hitting Her with Frying Pan” (2009)

“Superior Court Judge Charged with Extreme DUI” (2012)

“Former Philadelphia Judge Charged with Theft, Conflict of Interest” (2014)

“Drug Court Judge’s Daughter among 10 Arrested on Pot Charges in Wilmette” (2013)

“Federal Judge Charged with DWI, Dash-Cam Video Released” (2014)

“Pennsylvania Judge Gets 28 Years in ‘Kids for Cash’ Case” (2011)

“Judge’s Wife Makes Opposite Statements” (2011)

“Judge’s Property Transaction Leads to a Charge of Fraud” (2013)

“Judge’s Wife Charged with Attempted Murder, Accused of Poisoning Him with Antifreeze” (2013)

“New Orleans Municipal Court Judge’s Wife Arrested after Biting Husband, Threatening Officers” (2014)

“Judge[…]’s Son Indicted on Six Felonies, Nine Counts Overall” (2014)

“Texas Judge’s Wife ‘Implicates Him’ in Triple Murder” (2013)

“Judge Arrested in Connection with Wife’s Killing” (2023)

If members of the public aren’t to stereotype judges and their families according to such stories—of which the foregoing are but a smattering—then it’s only just that judges be expected to show the strangers who appear before them and whose welfare and prosperity may rest in their hands the same discernment and benefit of the doubt.

Copyright © 2014 RestrainingOrderAbuse.com